



Book ,T?^ -A-e- 



PAPERS 



CORRESPONDENCE 



IN REGARD TO 



THE RIGHTS 



3?J 

C3f 






THE ENJOYMENT OF THE TITLES, PRECEDENCE, ARMORIAL BEARINGS, 

AND ALL OTHER RIGHTS WHICH BELONG TO A LEGITIMATE 

SON OF A PRINCE OF HANOVER,— OF A SON BORN 

IN AN EQUAL MARRIAGE. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED BY WILLIAM DAVY, GILBERT STREET, 
GROSVENOR SQUARE. 



1811. 



mA 5 ' 



The following Papers and Correspondence 

are to be considered as Manuscript : they are 

only put into Type to render their perusal less 

irksome by Those, to whom Copies may be 

presented. 

205449 
'13 



—- *H©-3K-©*2*- 



The few following pages cannot be dedicated 
otherwise than to Your revered, and to Your 
honored, Memory — my beloved Mother. 

In them the Nobility of Your Birth is suffi- 
ciently set forth to satisfy the most fastidious 
that You were an Equal Consort for my 
Royal Father : 

— in them are recorded the repeated Solemni- 
ties at the Altar of the Supreme Creator, 
which made You a Wife and a Mother : 
— in them are set forth, that from Your Royal 
Husband, for many years, You received that 
Title which belonged to his Equal Wife ; — 
that Title, the noblest and the brightest orna- 
ments of which were to be found in Your 
humble and unwavering Devotion in the Ser- 
vice of the Great-Supreme, — in Your Filial 
Piety towards both of Your own Parents, — 
in Your Parental Affection towards my Sister 
and myself, — and in Your exuberant Charity 
towards Your Fellow-Creatures. 



11 

With what pride, and with what exultation, 
does Your Son bear his incontestable evidence 
of the many Virtues of such a Mother. 

To Your Memory, my Mother, I dedicate 
these pages, for another reason : — there is that 
within me which tells me, were You now 
living, their contents would draw down upon 
them Your approbation, — would prove to You 
that, during past years, I have not left undone 
that which was due to You, and was due to 
Your Daughter, and to myself. In the fol- 
lowing pages You would find that I have 
used the Documents, which, by Your loss, 
became mine, as You would have had me to 
use them : they were submitted for considera- 
tion to the Experienced and to the Learned 
(for to Kluber do both those epithets pre-emi- 
nently apply) ; and the Opinions which were 
returned having been free from doubt, I 
appealed to my Sovereign's Justice for His 
Acknowledgment of my Rights ; — Rights, 
the full enjoyment of which by Law and in 
Equity should be mine, as the consequence of 
Your Noble Birth, and of those Righteous, 
and of those well-judged Measures, which You 
took, conjointly with my Father, to ensure 
my religious and my lawful Birth. 

Under the heart-felt security, were You 
living, that what appears in the following 



Ill 



pages would meet with Your approval, I 
dedicate them to Your Memory ; and with 
reverence sign myself, 

Your affectionate Son Augustus* 

TWO ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 

In the foregoing humble tribute to the Memory of a 
justly revered Mother, allusions have been made to her 
exemplary Filial Piety, and to the generous benevolence 
of her noble nature : subjoined will be found instances 
of the one and of the other, the perusal of which will 
kindle in the breast of every Reader, those feelings of 
Admiration and of Respect which so eminently are due to 
her many virtues. 

The first that I shall give is in regard to her excellence 
as a Daughter, and it is as follows : — 

During the last illness of both Her Parents my Mother 
was their constant Attendant : there was no service 
whatsoever, which could fall to the office of any Menial, 
which for Them She did not joyfully perform. Her 
bodily exertions in moving Her Father, when confined to 
to his bed of sickness, were the occasion of an injury to 
her spine; which injury, in all probability, materially 
hastened the moment which inflicted upon her Children 
her irreparable loss. In return for the Filial Piety which 
She had shewn towards both Her Parents, my Mother, 
during her own long-continued sufferings, was rewarded 
in the receipt of not inferior Services, which she expe- 
rienced at the hands of her own dutiful and devoted 
Daughter. 



IV 



In the second little anecdote which has been promised, 
it will be seen that compassionate and generous feelings 
held possession of my Mother's heart, to the thorough 
exclusion of that species of pride, which most people 
would instantly admit that they possessed — and that, 
without a fear of incurring a reproach. 

Few would consign a piece of Plate, for a time, into 
the hands of the Pawnbroker, for the purpose of extri- 
cating a Fellow-creature from impending ruin : that my 
Mother did not hesitate to do so will be seen by what 
follows : — 

Upon one occasion, a Person who had previously pos- 
sessed herself of my Mother's favourable opinion, came 
to her in an hour of the utmost need and besought her 
for pecuniary assistance. It so happened, precisely at 
that time, that my Mother had not the sum required, and 
there existed reasons which rendered her insuperably 
averse to applying to her Bankers for its loan : under 
these circumstances, to relieve the individual in question 
from being overwhelmed by her difficulties, my Mother's 
generous heart suggested an expedient, and unhesitatingly 
she delivered over to her a large piece of Plate, that 
upon it might be raised the required amount. Again, I 
say, there are but very few upon whom the sentiments 
of compassion and of liberality would have operated to 
the same extent : it is an action the remembrance of 
which is ever fondly dwelt upon by her Son. 



INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE. 



It was upon the Fourth Day of March, 1830, 
that by death I was bereaved of my revered 
Mother. — I use the word, revered, although an 
insufficient expression, yet as the one which 
is best calculated to convey some idea of the 
effects produced both in my heart and in my 
judgment, by her religion, which was fervent 
— by her devoted piety towards her Parents, 
of which, to the same extent, there are but few 
examples — by her affection towards her own 
children, which knew no bounds — and by her 
charity towards her fellow-creatures, which 
was noble and magnificent. By her demise I 
became possessed of her Papers : amongst 
these I found Documents, the evident import- 
ance of which fixed my attention upon the 
Claims of my Sister and of myself, and impres- 
sed upon me the necessity of deferring no longer 
to institute diligent inquiries into our position, 
and as to how it was affected by the Laws of 

a 2 



4 INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE. 

Great Britain, of Ireland, and of Hanover. 
For this purpose, a Case, founded upon the 
Documents of which I had become possessed, 
was prepared, and submitted for the consi- 
deration of Dr. Stephen Lushington and Mr. 
Griffith Richards. This Case had for its object 
to ascertain the operation and limits of the 
Royal Marriage Act, and whether it could 
affect the Union of my Parents which was 
solemnized at Rome. 

The opinions and answers of those eminent 
and learned gentlemen fully bore out the view 
of my Case, as presented in the Publications 
of Sir John Dillon, and removed from my 
mind all anxieties as to whether the Roval 
Marriage Act could invalidate the Union of 
my Parents at Rome, or whether the sentence 
of the Court of Arches, could bar my inheri- 
tance from a Father who was not a parti/ to 
the Suit. 

At the time of the Marriage of my Parents 
in 1793, Ireland had not been united with 
Great Britain, but was a separate kingdom, 
having its own Lords, its own Commons, and 
its own Privy Council ; and it was not bound 
by any of the Enactments of the British Legis- 
lature. Under such circumstances it became 
necessary that I should obtain the opinion of 
the most learned and celebrated of its Lawyers, 



INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE. 5 

as to whether the Royal Marriage Act (a 
purely British Statute) was operative in 
Ireland ; and whether my Father, as an Irish 
Prince, was not legally capable of contracting 
Matrimony with my Mother, both in Rome 
and in London. 

The opinion of Daniel O'Connell (for whose 
judgment upon those heads a Case was sub- 
mitted), set forth in words the most plain and 
unequivocal, fully satisfied my own mind as 
to what is my rightful status and position in 
that portion of the United Empire. 

Having proceeded thus far in my investiga- 
tions as to my position in Great Britain and in 
Ireland, it yet remained for me to ascertain 
what my station was, and what my rights 
were, in regard to Hanover. 

To this end I left England in June, 1833 ; 
and in Germany readily obtained the requisite 
information, as to the names of those Jurists, 
whose reputations were of that high order, 
that their opinions in regard to my Claims, by 
the difierent Courts, and by the different Uni- 
versities, would be considered conclusive. I 
ascertained that it was to Kluber of Frank- 
fort a.m., and to Zacharia of Heildelberg, that 
I must address myself. Into their hands I 
committed the following case, and received 
from them the thereunto appended Opinions. 



6 

CASE FOE HANOVER, 



Duke Augustus Frederick* of Hanover — the 
sixth Son of the Elector George — was born 
on the 27th of January, 1773: he was educated 
at Gotingen, and was brought up in the doc- 
trines of the English Church. 

Being upon his Travels, towards the close 
of the year 1792, Duke Augustus at Rome 
became acquainted with the Right Honorable 
Lady Augusta Murray. 

I shall here give a statement of the Family 
of my honored Mother. 

The Lady Augusta was the second Daughter 
of John, Earl of Dunmore, of the Ducal House 
of Atholl, whose Grandfather was (in male 
descent) the Grandson of the Reigning Sove- 
reign of the Island of Man ; consequently, 
according to the customs of Germany, where 
the younger Branch continues to enjoy the 
same Titles as the elder Line, Lady Augusta 
cannot be viewed otherwise than as in a station 



* As the object of this case is only to remove all uncertainty as to 
my Status IN HANOVER, when speaking of my illustrious Father 
I give him that Title, which was his in 1794, as a Son of THE 
ELECTOR OF HANOVER, according to Rethmeyer's Braunsch- 
weigische und Luneburgische Cronici Tom. II. page 1337 — and also 
according to Pfeffinger. 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 



equivalent with that of A PRINCESS OF 
THE EMPIRE. 

The Lady Augusta derived her descent 
three times from the very same com- 
mon Ancestors with Duke Augustus, — 
namely, from two Crowned Heads, and from 
a Family now become kingly. 

The common Ancestors to both were — 
James the Second, King of Scotland — Henry 
the Seventh, King of England — and Prince 
William of Orange, the Ancestor of the pre- 
sent King of Holland. (See Genealogical 
Table.) 

It is here to be observed, that in Scotland 
and in England EARLS ARE PRINCES, 
and are styled by the King, COUSINS— in 
Latin Consanguinei. 

Gwillim, in his Display of Heraldry, says Extract 
(page 460) : " The Title of Earl is very anci- owfflta. 
ent, the Dignity very Honorable ; their cal- 
ling being, in sign of their greatness, adorned 
with the lustre of a Coronet, and themselves 
ennobled with the style of Princes." 

If it were asked, why Earls are styled 
Cousins by the Scottish and English Kings 
(and surely there must have been some 
weighty reason for it) ? my reply would be, 
taking into consideration the marriages of 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 



former kings, that it must have been given to 
them to signify that it was contemplated that 
ROYAL CONSORTS should be taken from 
amongst their Daughters. Cousins are assur- 
edly the most equal in birth, who by the 
Divine Laws are permitted to intermarry. 

I now proceed to narrate the consequence 
of the acquaintance between Duke Augustus 
and the Lady Augusta in the Words of the 
Prince himself. 

The extract is from Document E, being part 
of a Letter from His Electoral Highness to the 
celebrated Lawyer, the Honorable Thomas 
Erskine, afterwards Lord High Chancellor of 
Great Britain. 
Extract " A detail of the circumstances which relate 
Document to me and my Wife, will put you in a better 
way of judging the affair. 

" In the Month of December, being on my 
Travels, I got acquainted at Rome with Lady 
Dunmore and her two Daughters. * * * * The 
well known accomplishments of my Wife 
(then Lady Augusta Murray) caught my 
peculiar attention. 

" After four months' intimacy, by which I 
got more particularly acquainted with all her 
endearing qualities, I offered her my hand, 
unknown to her family, being certain before- 
hand of the objections Lady Dunmore would 



E. 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 



have made me, had she been informed of my 
intentions. The CANDOUR AND GENE- 
ROSITY MY WIFE, shewed on this occa- 
sion, by REFUSING the proposal, and by 
shewing me the personal disadvantages I 
should draw on myself, instead of checking 
my endeavours, served only to add new fuel 
to a passion, which already no earthly power 
could evermore have extinguished. 

" At length, after having convinced Augusta 
of the impossibility of my living without her, 
I found an English Clergyman, and we were 
privately married at Rome, in the month of 
April, 1793, according to the rites of the Eng- 
lish Church. 

" After having lived with Augusta some Precaution 
months, though privately, I was recalled to the 

Legitimacy 

England; when for fear of ANY DIFFI- ofi }\ s 

to ' J J J Child. 

CULTY being made as to THE LEGALITY 
of my Child's birth, I caused myself to be 
married a second time." 

By the foregoing it is seen that Duke 
Augustus and the Lady Augusta were married 
TWICE; first at Rome, and secondly in Eng- 
land. 

It will be well to give here the copy of 
Document A : it is the Espousals of the 
Parents of Augustus of Este. 



Extract 
from 



10 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

Document A. 

As this Paper is to contain the mutual Pro- 
Document m j se Q f Marriage between Augustus Frederick 
and Augusta Murray, our mutual names must 
be put here by us both, and kept in my pos- 
session. 

It is a Promise neither of us can break, and 
is made before GOD OUR CREATOR AND 
ALL-MERCIFUL FATHER. 

Onmy knees before GOD OUR CREATOR 
I Augustus Frederick promise thee Augusta 
Murray, and swear upon the Bible, as I hope 
for Salvation in the world to come, that I will 
take thee Augusta Murray for my Wife — for 
better, for worse — for richer, for poorer — in 
sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 
till death us do part — to love but thee only, 
and none other — and may God forget me, if I 
ever forget Thee. 

The Lord's name be praised ! — so bless me, 
so bless us, O God! And with my hand- 
writing do I Augustus Frederick this sign, 
March 21st, 1793, at Rome, and put my Seal 
to it and my name. 



fe) 



AUGUSTUS FREDERICK. 

(Completed at Rome, April 4th, 1793.) 



Observe — the above is in different coloured ink, 
and written with a different pen from 



CASE FOR HANOVER. \\ 

what precedes, or what follows ; it is an 
evident insertion after the solemnization 
of the Marriage. 



Then follows the Lady Augusta's promise 
to take the Duke Augustus for her Husband, 
in exactly the same words as those used by the 
Duke himself. 

The attention of the learned Jurisconsult is 
requested to the following circumstances : 
1st. That the idea of the written promise 

originated with the Duke. 
2nd. That the words, "COMPLETED 
AT ROME, APRIL 4th, 1793," ap- 
pear, from having been written with a 
different pen and with different ink, to 
have been inserted by the Duke after 
that Solemnity had taken place, which 
had been vowed upon the Bible. 
By the different Documents it is evident 
that the first marriage was intended to be a 
clandestine marriage. By a reference to 
Document D we find the reasons for such a 
wish, and they speak much in favour of both 
the judgment and prudence of the illustrious 
writer. 

Extract. 

" The secret of our marriage (that is to say, Extract 
of your Daughter Augusta Murray with me) Document 



12 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

I could have wished myself to conceal, TILL 
WHEN THE MINDS OF MY ROYAL 
PARENTS (as well as the Public) COULD 
HAVE been prepared to it, for which I was 
employing my utmost endeavours." 

The cause of the second Marriage by Banns 
in the great Church of St. George's, London, 
must now be given : it is assigned in four 
different documents, with an interval of seven 
years between their dates. 
Extract " The motive of my wishing to have it (the 

from 

Document marriage) performed again, proceeded from a 
fear LEST THE LEGALITY OF OUR 
CHILD'S BIRTH SHOULD BE DISPU- 
TED, and which, for my part, I SHALL 
NEVER HESITATE a moment OWN- 
ING." 

By a reference to Document E, we find : 

Extract « I was recalled to England, when FOR 

from ° 

Document FEAR OF ANY DIFFICULTY being 
made as to the LEGALITY OF MY 
CHILD'S BIRTH, I caused myself to be 
married a second time." 

In Documents F and G — two Wills, one 

executed in Berlin, September 15th, 1799, the 

other in London, in December, 1800 — we find 

the following words : 

Extract " That for GREATER SECURITY, and 

Documents NOT from an apprehension of the first being 

L F & G. l - & 



Doc. E. 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 13 

insufficient, I again performed the ceremony 
of Marriage with my said Wife," &c. 

I will now request your attention to the 
following reason, which is given by the Duke 
himself, for writing the letter (Document E) 
to the learned Avocate, the Honble. Thomas 
Erskine : remark, the two marriages of the 
Duke were in 1793, and this Document is 
stated to have been despatched January 30th, 
1798, THREE days after the birth day on 
which his then Electoral Highness had com- 
pleted his 25th year. 

u The time being now come when by the E f r om Ct 
Laws of my own country I am allowed to 
stand forward and CLAIM MY WIFE, I 
apply to your kindness, in order to see that 
justice done me in the sight of the world," &c. 

Thus we perceive that the Duke entertained 
the disposition of mind, through a vigorous 
prosecution of such claim, to repeat his asser- 
tions of his Marriage both BY WORD AND 
ACT. 

The separation of the Parents of Augustus 
of Este, during which Document E was writ- 
ten, continued until the year 1799, when they 
again came together at Berlin, and lived to- 
gether as man and wife : the honored Mother 
of Augustus of Este, received from visitors 
and from all the members of the household, 



14 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

the Title which was consequent upon her 
being the acknowledged LEGAL AND 
EQUAL Wife of the Electoral Duke. 

Shortly after their meeting at Berlin they 
removed to London, where they continued to 
live together as man and wife until the end of 
1800, when in consequence of Asthma the Duke 
was obliged to go to Lisbon for milder air. 

Whilst at Berlin his Electoral Highness 
executed Document F — a Holograph Will 
and Testament, which he revoked by Docu- 
ment G, also a Holograph Will. They are 
both nearly word for word the same, and 
both contain the following passage : 
E fJom t " Whatever unforseen events may yet fol- 

Do^ument low> and m ^charge of that duty which I 
feel incumbent on me, I think it requisite and 
JUST for me to declare, in this MY LAST 

andT// WILL, THAT I WAS SOLEMNLY and 
DULY MARRIED to Lady Augusta Mur- 
ray, second daughter of the Earl of Dunmore, 
on the 4tk day of April, in the year of 
our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and 
Ninety-three, at the City of Rome, and in the 
Inn commonly known by the name of Sami- 
ento, where my aforesaid Wife then resided 
with her Mother, Lady Dunmore, and her 
Sister, Lady Virginia Murray. — And also that 
for GREATER SECURITY, and NOT 



Marrried. 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 



15 



from an apprehension of the first 

being insufficient^ I again performed the 
ceremony of Marriage with my: said Wife, 
at the Parish Church of St. George, Hanover 
Square, in the County of Middlesex, by 
virtue of Bans published in the said 
Church, on the Fifth day of December, in the 
year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hun- 
dred and Ninety-three." 

We also find in the same Documents, F and 
G, the following words : 

" I consider and EVER shall acknowledge 
our Son, Augustus Frederick, who was born 
after both these marriages, as my True, Legi- 
timate and Lawful Son," &c. &o. 

In January, 1801, his Electoral Highness 
addressed Document H to his Son, a letter, 
from its piety and paternal solicitude, highly 
to the honour of the illustrious Writer. The 
said letter is thus addressed : 



London 
Marriage. 



H. E. H.'s 
Vow 

ever to 
acknowledge 

his Son. 



To my dearly beloved Son 
PRINCE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK. 

No. 40, Lower Grosvenor St. 

Grosvenor Square, London. 



16 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

Before concluding the present Case, Augus- 
tus of Este begs to inform the learned Coun- 
sellor, that not only was his late honored 
Mother, until the year 1801, ALWAYS 
called by the Titles which were hers as the 

acknowledged legal Wife of his Royal 

Father, but that he has also a great many 
letters from the Duke Augustus to his honored 
Mother, superscribed both in English and in 
French : 



A son Altesse Royale 
la Princesse Augustus Frederick 



And in English also, 



To H. R. H. 

the Princess Augustus Frederick. 



The opinion of the learned Counsellor is 
requested upon the following Questions : 

1st. Taking^ into the consideration that the 
Mother of Augustus of Este (who was the 
Daughter of a Scottish Earl, which Dignita- 



CASE FOR HANOVER. \J 

ries ARE PRINCES, and when formally 
addressed by their Sovereign are called COU- 
SINS ) was thrice descended from the 
same common Ancestors as was her 

Royal Husband, two of which were Kings; — 
secondly, bearing in mind that she descended 
in the male line from the ACTUALLY 
REIGNING SOVEREIGN of the Island of 
Man, a State COMPLETELY independent, 
at the time when the Danmore Branch left its 
elder line ; — taking these circumstances into 
consideration, was not the birth of the Mother 
of Augustus of Este such, as fully to ensure to 
the Union between Her and the Duke Augus- 
tus Frederick of Hanover, its being held an 
EQUAL (standesmassig) MARRIAGE ? 

2nd. In case that the Royal Father of 
Augustus of Este should die, would the writ- 
ten Contract of Marriage (Document A) in 
conjunction with the other Documents, and 
more especially together with the Parochial 
Certificate of the Marriage solemnized in 
London, be considered by the Law-Courts of 
Hanover, a sufficient Proof of Marriage, to 
secure to the Children of this Marriage their 
right of succession ? 

3rd. In case that the two preceding ques- 
tions should be answered in the affirmative, is 




18 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

there any Law whatsoever of force in the 

Kingdom of Hanover y which could rob 

Augustus of Este of those Rights, which are 
consequent upon his being the Son of an 
EQUAL MARRIAGE (standesmassiger 
Ehe) ? 

The following Paper may be considered as 
a Postscript to the preceding Case ; it was 
written by me some months later, and is an 
invitation to use the Certificate of St. George's 
Church, London. 

INVITATION. 

Should the learned Counsellor of State con- 
sider it desirable to have yet further Proofs 
of Marriage, beyond the Sponsalia, and the' 
REITERATED accounts of the Roman Mar- 
riage, given by my Royal Father, (reiterated 
at different times within the space of SEVEN 
YEARS,) I venture to suggest that the Cer- 
tificate of the Marriage solemnized at St. 
George's Church, London, may furnish the 
additional proof required, for the following 
reasons : 

When the British Empire offered their 
different Crowns to the Elector of Hanover, 
they were accepted by him, HE RETAIN- 



CASE FOR HANOVER. 19 

ING all the Privileges and Immunities of a 
German Sovereign. These Privileges and 
Immunities ARE possessed fully by his Des- 
cendants. George the Third was King of 
England ; but he did not forfeit thereby his 
Right to be considered in London also as a 
FOREIGN VISITING SOVEREIGN so- 
journing in that Capital. 

It is clearly laid down in the Laws of 
Nations that the Privileges and Immunities of 
Embassadors are fully participated in by their 
Wives and Children. By so much the more 
must the Wives and Children of those Sove- 
reigns who send these Embassadors, be enti- 
tled, when abroad, to equal advantages as are 
enjoyed by the Wives and Children of Embas- 
sadors. * 

Further : Suppose a Son of the King of 
Denmark (being a sojourner in London) to 
have been enamoured of, and to have mar- 
ried by Bans (proclaimed on three different 
Sundays) the Daughter of a British Earl, — 
would such marriage not have been good in 
England? There CAN BE NO DOUBT 
upon the subject. 

To those acquainted with the Laws of Con- 
tinental Europe, it is well known that the 
same Personage may possess different Charac- 
ters or Personalties in Law ; and that Acts 

b 2 



20 CASE FOR HANOVER. 

which may be unlawful to the said Personage 
in one Character, may be perfectly lawful 

to him in his other Character : thus, 
supposing for one moment, that it was unlaw- 
ful to my Royal Father, in his character as a 
Prince of England, to contract matrimony in 
London without observing certain legal forms ; 
YET IN HIS CHARACTER OF A 
HANOVERIAN PRINCE SOJOURNING 
in the British Capital, IT WAS PER- 
FECTLY LAWFUL for him to marry 
WITHOUT observing such legal forms. 

Mr. O'Connell is of opinion that as an 
IRISH PRINCE, my Royal Father could, 
legally, contract Marriage at Rome ; — AS 
AN ELECTORAL PRINCE OF HANO- 
VER, COULD HE NOT LEGALLY 
CONTRACT MATRIMONY ifc LON- 
DON? 

From the arguments which have been 
adduced, with deference I venture to sub- 
mit, that the Parochial Certificate of the 
Marriage solemnized in London would be 
held a sufficient proof of Marriage by 
the Law Courts of Hanover for all the pur- 
poses of ensuring the Right of Succession to 
my Sister and to myself, should it be consi- 
dered desirable that Proof beyond the Es- 
pousals (Document A) should be furnished. 






kluber's opinion. 21 

The foregoing Case having been submitted 
to the Counsellor of State, Kluber, received 
from that celebrated Jurist the following 
opinion. 

THE OPINION 

OF 

JOHN LOUIS KLUBER, 

COUNSELLOR OF STATE, 
UPON THE RIGHTS AND CLAIMS 

OF 



" From the preceding disquisition concern- 
ing rights in regard to the German Empire, 
and in regard to Hanover, it results — 

1st. That the marriage of his Royal High- 
ness Duke Augustus Frederick of Sussex, at 
the time of the said marriage an Electoral 
Prince of Brunswick, therefore a member of 
one of the Sovereign Houses of the Empire 
(sonach aus einem Reichs-standischen Hause 
entsprossenen Herrn), with the Lady Augusta 
Murray, daughter of an Earl, and Peer of 
Scotland, is a valid marriage, and not a 
Misalliance, consequently, that it is fully 
operative in law. Nay, more — that it is 
an equal marriage ; and one which affects 
both the contracting parties themselves, and 
their children, with the legal consequences 
resulting from marriage. 



22 kluber/s opinion. 

2nd. That the children of this marriage* 
namely, the son Augustus Frederick, and the 
daughter Augusta, are not only the legitimate 
children of the Duke (or children born in 
wedlock), but that they are equal to their 

FATHER IN BIRTH* and the SAME IN STATION 

(ebenburtig oder standesgleich), and therefore, 
that they are, to all intents and purposes, Mem- 
bers of the Sovereign House of Bruns- 
wick. That the said children, as members of 
one of those reigning houses, which are part 
and parcel of the Empire, belong, in the Em- 
pire, to the high Nobility, and to the class of 
Imperial Immediates (der Reichs-unmittelbaren 
Erlauchten). Further, that the said children 
(in consequence of their equality to their father 
in birth, and of their being actual Members of 
the united families of Brunswick) are entitled 
in the united families of Brunswick, especially 
in the Kingdom of Hanover, to the full en- 
joyment of ail rights belonging to their class 
of non-reigning Members of the House, to wit, 

of the FAMILY NAME — TITLES ARMORIAL 

bearings — and all other rights: further, that 
they are entitled to succeed (successions fahig) 
their father in his political, family, and private 
rights, whenever the law of succession opens 
to them/' 



zacharia's opinion. 23 

The same Case, verbatim, having been sub- 
mitted for the consideration of Dr. K. S. 
Zacharia, of Heidelberg, received from that 
eminent Privy Counsellor the following ans- 
wers. 



OPINION UPON THE CLAIMS OF AUGUSTUS OF ESTE, 
THE LAWFUL SON OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE 
DUKE OF SUSSEX, TO THE TITLE, THE DIGNITY, 
AND THE RIGHTS OF A PRINCE OF THE HOUSE 
OF HANOVER, BY DR. K. S. ZACHARIA, PRIVY 
COUNSELLOR AND PUBLIC LECTURER IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG, KNIGHT OF THE 
ZAHRINGER LION, &c. &c. &c. 



" Final Results. — I now proceed to con- 
dense the result of the preceding Treatise into 
the following sentences, which contain my 
opinion — an opinion which has been weighed 
with great care — upon the five questions 
submitted to me for answers. 

No. 1. The case now under consideration 
is not to be decided according to the laws of 
Great Britain, especially not according to the 
Royal Marriage Act, but must be judged 
according to the laws in force in that German 
Princely House, which is now the reigning 
one of the Kingdom of Hanover : it is to be 
judged by the special law of this House, and by 
the general law in force in the Sovereign 
Houses of Germany (dem gemeinen Deutschen 



24 zacharia's opinion. 

Privat-Fursten-Rechte). For Prince Augustus 
Frederick, Duke of Sussex, at the period of his 
marriage with the Lady Augusta Murray, and 
still is to be considered in law in two distinct 
qualities or capacities, in that of a Prince of 
the Royal House of Britain, and in that of a 
Prince of the formerly Electoral, now Royal y 
House of Hanover. But, in the present case, 
he is considered exclusively in the latter 
quality — that is, as a Prince of Hanover, and 
his marriage must be decided upon solely and 
alone by the laws in force in the Reigning 
House of that Kingdom : were it otherwise, 
the Kingdom of Hanover, a State completely 
independent of Great Britain, would be thrown 
under the supremacy of British laws. For the 
same reason, the sentence concerning this mar- 
riage, pronounced by the Ecclesiastical Court 
in London, in consequence of the Royal Mar- 
riage Act, cannot have the force of law in 
Hanover, nor can it be applied to that House, 
now the reigning one of that Kingdom. 

No. 2. Prince Augustus Frederick has con- 
tracted with the Lady Augusta a marriage 
which, in regard to its outward forms, can be 
proved to be valid — for the outward formalities 
attending any legal act are to be decided 
upon according to the laws of that place 
where the said act has been completed, in 



zacharia's opinion. 25 

accordance with the rule ( Locus regit actum ' 
— so in the first place, the stability in law 
(Recht-bestandigkeit) of the marriage which 
took place in London on the 4th of December, 
1793, is unquestionable, because it was attended 
by all the formalities required by the laws of 
England, and, for the fact of marriage, suffi- 
cient evidence can be produced through the 
parochial certificate, proof sufficient, according 
to both German and English law. But, in 
consequence of the peculiar quality of one of 
the parties, the marriage in question is likewise 
to be held valid, in regard to its outward forms, 
from the written promise of marriage given by 
Prince Augustus Frederick (bearing date the 
21st of March, 1793), and followed by the 
cohabitation of the Parties ; also, the said 
marriage is to be held valid in regard to its 
outward forms, from the Holy Rites which 
were solemnized at Rome on the 4th of April, 
1793 ; because, a Prince of any of the German 
Protestant Princely Houses, according to the 
German laws in force in the year 1793, was 
entitled to marry by a contract alone, 'solo 
consensu!" and this as well abroad as at 
home. Evidence sufficient, at least according 
to the German rule of Courts (Processrechte), 
can be produced of each and of both these 
facts. 



26 zacharia's opinion* 

No. 3. That Augustus of Este was begotten 
in wedlock can only be questionable in regard 
to the solemnization of the marriage in Lon- 
don on the 4th of December, 1793 ; but the 
German law, in consonance with that of Eng- 
land, declares that every child which is born 
after the solemnities of matrimony is a legiti- 
mate child of its Parents. 

No. 4. According to the laws which must 
be applied to this case, the validity of the 
marriage depends neither upon the consent of 
the parents of the Prince, nor upon his being of 
age. The Royal Marriage Act cannot be viewed 
in the character of a law of the House, or 
family statute, and in such quality be brought 
forward to oppose the validity of the marriage 
now under consideration ; for the said Act, 
by the formalities which it enjoins, and by the 
tenour of its words, can only be applied to 
the reigning family of Britain — it has never 
been published by the King of Great Britain 
in his character of Head of the Reigning 
family of Hanover ; nor has it, through any 
particular Declaration, been made of force in 
regard to this House. Besides, according to 
the German (' Privat-Fiirsten-Recht ' ), Prince 
Augustus Frederick cannot be considered as a 
minor at the time of his marriage ; and, accor- 
ding to the same law, the Parents of the 



zacharia's opinion. 27 

Prince were those alone who were competent 
in any way to impugn a marriage which had 
been contracted without their consent. 

No. 5. According to the general law in 
force in the Sovereign Houses of the German 
Empire, such marriage is only a Misalliance 
(missheirath) as has been contracted between 
a German Prince (Furst), between the reign- 
ing Lord, or a member of his family, and a 
Consort who is not of the Nobility (mit einer 
Biirgerlichen). But, on the other hand, ac- 
cording to the said law and according to the 
most modern practice, such marriage is an 
equal marriage (eine ebenburtige Ehe), which 
has been contracted between a German Prince 
and a Lady who descends from old Nobility 
(Nobilitatis Avitae), unless an express stipula- 
tion to the contrary appears in the marriage 
contract. Not only is there no departure 
from this law by the especial ones for the 
House of Hanover, but it is actually corrobo- 
rated by the marriage of Duke George William 
of Brunswick Zelle, the Father of the Consort 
of George the First of Great Britain ; beyond 
all this, the Mother of Augustus of Este was 
of one of the most Illustrious Houses of the 
High Scottish Nobility — indeed, in relation to 
the Island of Man, she was of a Sovereign 
House. The lineage of the Lady Augusta 



28 zacharia's opinion. 

can in every respect be compared to those 
mediatised families amongst the German Prin- 
ces, to which the Federal Act explicitly 
secures the right of equal birth (Ebenburtig- 
keit). From these sentences it directly follows, 
that not only the status of a legitimate son 
of his parents — namely, of Prince Augustus 
Frederick, Duke of Sussex, and of the Lady 
Augusta Murray — belong to Augustus of 
Este, but also that he is entitled to claim 

THE TITLES, THE DIGNITIES, and the rights, 

which belong to a Son, begotten in an equal 
marriage of a Prince of that House which 
reigns in the kingdom of Hanover. 

Dr. K. S. Zacharia. 

Heidelberg, 

In the Month of December, 1833." 

— -*£*&•£•©*&• — 

In the possession of the Opinions of Men of 
such eminence and of such celebrity, the path 
which now I had to travel seemed clearly to 
be marked out. 

The moment had now arrived when it be- 
hoved me, in all due form, personally to bring 
my Claims, through the medium of their 
Legislature, under the cognizance of the Peo- 
ple of Hanover. As the first step towards 






PETITION TO THE CABINET. 29 

this end, I addressed the following Petition, 
founded upon the Opinions of Kluber and of 
Zacharia, to the Viceroy (H. R. H, the Duke 
of Cambridge) and to the Cabinet Ministe- 
rium. — A Copy of Kluber accompanied the 
Petition. 



PETITION 

TO 

H. R H. THE VICEROY, AND CABINET MINISTERIUM, 

OF 

HANOVER. 

August 23rd, 1834. 

The undersigned Augustus Frederick of Este, 
duly impressed with the consciousness of being 
the Issue from the valid and equal ( Standes- 
massig) Marriage of his Princely Father, his 
Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, with his 
departed Mother, a daughter of the Earl of 
Dunmore, a member of the formerly Sovereign 
and Reigning House of Atholl, cannot doubt 
that in consequence of such descent, he is born 
to the full enjoyment of the Paternal Rights 
in regard to the Royal House and to the 
Kingdom of Hanover. In the early years of 
his life, his Royal Father always addressed 
him by the Title connected with such Claim, 



30 PETITION TO THE CABINET. 

the bearing which Title was suspended only 
out of delicate family considerations which no 
longer exist. 

The original family name of the Princely 
House of Brunswick was given to him, and 
has ever since been borne by him, without 
either opposition on his part, or the renounce- 
ment of his Rights. 

The distinguished German Lawyers who 
have been consulted by him concerning the 
validity of his Claims, have unanimously de- 
clared them to be well founded; and in the 
enclosed second volume of Kliiber (just pub- 
lished), that Counsellor of State gives an 
historical and juridical Treatise, which em- 
braces the subject in all its bearings. 

The Undersigned feels it a duty, which is 
due to the memory of his revered Mother, 
and to himself, to use his exertions, so that 
such Claims not only be generally known and 
acknowledged, but that the distinctive Marks 
connected with them be accorded to him ; 
such as the Titles, Armorial Bearings, and 
Precedence, — to be by him used on all occa- 
sions, and to be as generally recognized. 

To this intent the Undersigned, again 
referring to the above-mentioned Treatise, 
addresses to your Royal Highness and to your 
Excellencies the humble prayer, that you will 



PETITION TO THE CHAMBERS. 3J 

be pleased to use your influence with His Majesty 
towards the attainment of the purpose which 
has been pointed out. 

The undersigned begs to add the assurances 
of his profound respect and his distinguished 
esteem, both towards your Royal Highness 
and to your Excellencies. 

(Signed) Augustus d'Este. 

The next measure to which I felt it neces- 
sary to have recourse, was to acquaint both 
Chambers of the States, individually, with the 
step already taken, and at the same time to 
present to them Copies of those legal Autho- 
rities which formed the main-spring of that 
action. On the 25th of August, I delivered 
in person to the Huissiers of the First and 
Second Chambers the following note, enclo- 
sing a Copy of my Petition, and presented with 
it the published Volume of Kluber, which 
contains his Treatise on my Claims. A few 
days afterwards, I was enabled to forward 
Zacharia's Opinion to the Minister ium, and to 
each of the Chambers of the States. 



32 teommunication to the chambers. 



LETTEE 

TO 

THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE FIRST AND SECOND 

CHAMBERS OF THE STATES - GENERAL 

OF THE KINGDOM OF 

HANOVER. 



Hanover, August 25th, 1834. 

Animated with the conviction of the im- 
portance of my Claims to the full enjoyment 
of the Rights and Station of my Father, 
particularly in regard to the Royal House, and 
to the Kingdom of Hanover, I trust that they 
will be both duly appreciated, and attended 
to by the Members of the Hanoverian 
States. 

I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to 
transmit to the (First and Second) Chamber 
a Copy of a Petition in reference to my Claims, 
which, on the 23rd Instant, I presented to his 
Royal Highness the Viceroy and to the Cabi- 
net; also a Copy of the Treatise mentioned 
in the said Petition. 

I beg to avail myself of the present opportu- 
nity to add the assurance of my highest esteem 
and consideration. 

(Signed) Augustus d'Este. 



FIRST LETTER TO WILLIAM IV. 33 

By my Petition to the Viceroy I had ap- 
proached my Sovereign by the road which is 
open to every subject who seeks his King ; 
but as the Son of his Majesty's own Brother, 
I felt that, in duty, it behoved me, and in my 
own hand-writing, humbly to tender informa- 
tion upon the measures which had been taken; 
and further, my heart prompted me in the 
same letter to my Royal Uncle, to implore 
his justice and his grace. 

On the 25th of August, 1834, I despatched 
from Hanover the following letter. 



LETTER I. 

TO HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV. 

Hanover, 

August 2lst, 1834. 

Sire, 

If the Opinions of Dr. Lushington, 
of Mr. Richards, and of Mr. O'Connell, on 
my political status in Great Britain and Ire- 
land, were of a nature to impress me with a 
due Feeling of my Position in those portions 
of your Majesty's dominions, may I hope. 
Gracious Sire, that you will both understand 
and appreciate the sentiment, which told me 
that it was DUE TO THE MEMORY OF 



34 FIRST LETTER TO 

MY REVERED MOTHER, to my Sister, 
and to myself, to remove all doubts about my 
Position in Germany; and to ascertain through 
the Opinions of the most Learned, both in the 
Law and in the History of that People, 
whether I was not entitled to the exalted 
privilege of being counted amongst the Mem- 
bers of your Majesty's illustrious House. 

To this end having diligently sought out 
who would be held by all classes to be the 
VERY HIGHEST Authority, I addressed 
myself to the Counsellor of State, Kluber. 

After a due pause, in which to be enabled 
to determine the justice of my Claims, and to 
weigh the legal Efficacy of my Documents, 
this NOBLE-MINDED Jurist undertook my 
Suit; and, impressed with the righteousness of 
the cause, SPURNED ALL IDEA OF PRO- 
FIT, and gave to me all the energies of his 
understanding from his Love of Justice. 

His considerations upon my Case in ALL 
its bearings, form the greater portion of one 
of the accompanying volumes, which from 
feelings of profoundly respectful Duty and 
of Openness, I humbly venture to lay at your 
Royal feet, and of its contents to implore an 
impartial consideration. 

Pre-eminent as Kluber stands, in a case of 
such importance I felt it might not be suffi- 



WILLIAM IV 35 

cient to rest satisfied with the opinion of one 
individual, and my inquiries were directed 
further. 

Permit me, Sire, to lay at your Royal feet 
also, the Opinion of the Privy Counsellor 
Zacharia. 

Possessed of the opinions of the Just and of 
the Learned, it then became a question, — the 
manner in which it might be most agreeable 
to you, Sire, that the Petition founded upon 
their Decision should be conveyed to your 
Most Gracious Majesty. This day through 
the channel of your Majesty's Viceroy and 
Ministerium, I have ventured to address my 
humble prayer that to your Majesty's spon- 
taneous justice I may owe, henceforth, the 
enjoyment of that Rank, and of those Privi- 
leges, to which it has pleased Providence that 
I should be born. 

Beseeching your Majesty to call to mind 
that, in the Heirs which have been given 
already (besides those which it may still please 
Providence to bestow), the Line of Succession 
seems to have been so marked out, that no 
junior Member of your Majesty's House loses 
one tittle of present and of positive advantage 
by my acknowledgment ; and venturing to 
appeal to you, Sire, as my Father's Royal 
Brother, by the title of Uncle, which (though 

c2 



36 SECOND LETTER TO 

many years ago) in gracious condescension 
your Majesty was once pleased to use to my 
great honor, I venture to commend myself to 
YOUR JUSTICE, and to subscribe myself, 
with sentiments of profound loyalty, 

Your Majesty's most dutiful 
and devoted subject, 

(signed) Augustus d 'Este. 



On the 1st of September I despatched my 
second letter to the King : its occasion will be 
found by its contents. 



LETTER II. 

TO HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV. 

Hanover, 
August 31^, 1834. 
Sjre, 

Your Majesty will, I hope, be gra- 
ciously pleased to pardon the enclosed not 
having formed a part of the last enclosures : it 
was not waited for that a Post might not be 
lost. 

(A) Is the Result at which the Counsellor of 
State, Kluber, arrives, after investigating 
the subject in ALL its bearings. 



WILLIAM IV. 37 

(B) Is the Opinion of the Privy Counsellor, 
Zacharia, upon the Question of my 
Rights only in regard to Germany and 
to Hanover. 

(C) Is the Petition which has been addressed 
to the Viceroy and Cabinet. 

(D) Is the Formal Notification of the same 
to the Chambers. 

(E) Is a paper to which I could wish par- 
ticularly to draw your Most Gracious 
Majesty's attention : it is a Note con- 
cerning the King of Sardinia's recogni- 
tion of a young Prince of Carignan as a 
Prince of the Blood. 

If the two cases be contrasted, mine and his, 
I feel that I have every thing to hope from 
the united sentiments of clemency and of 
justice which, I am confident, even contend for 
supremacy in your Majesty's gracious bosom. 
When the two cases are put together, it will 
be found that the Mother of the Sardinian 
Prince was of the Mercantile Class, whilst 
mine was of the second branch of one, which, 
until within a few years, was a Sovereign 
and a Reigning Family. 

When again the Cases are viewed, it will be 
seen, that the Prince of Carignan receives the 
Grace of his Recognition from a Sovereign 
from whom he is far removed in Blood, whilst 



38 SECOND LETTER TO WILLIAM IV. 

I humbly kneel for a similar grace at the feet 
of the Royal Brother of my Father. 

Before I conclude, let me humbly implore 
your Majesty to take into consideration- — 
1st. That Kluber (as a Statesman and as 
a Jurisconsult) has published to the 
World his unbought Declaration of 
my Rights. 
2nd. That the grace for which I supplicate 
occasions no injury to any Junior Mem- 
ber of your Royal House. 
3rd. Let me, Most Gracious Sire, humbly 
conjure you to consider, that the grace 
for which I supplicate has by another 
Sovereign been just accorded. 
Commending myself again to the grace and 
justice of my Sovereign, with sentiments of 
the most profound reverence, I have the 
honor of subscribing myself, 

Your Majesty's most humble 
and devoted Subject, 

(signed) Augustus d 'Esle. 



Copies, with one exception, of all the enclo- 
sures mentioned in the preceding letter having 
already appeared in their proper order, I will 
now give the excepted paper : it is a Histori- 



HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. 39 

cal Narrative of the Recognition of the Prince 
de Savoie-Carignan, by the King of Sardinia, 
by a Royal Decree bearing date April 28th, 
1834. 

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. 

An Extract in regard to the Recognition of 
the Son of the Chevalier de Savoie and of 
the Demoiselle Quelen as a Prince of the 
Bloody by the King of Sardinia, on the 
28th of April, 1834. 

It was about the year 1775, that the Prince 
of Savoy-Carignan, accompanied by his Son, 
the young Prince Eugene, came to Versailles 
upon a visit to the King of France. Upon 
this occasion, his Majesty was pleased to confer 
upon the young Prince the Colonelcy of a 
Regiment of Infantry ; who, to avoid all mis- 
understanding in regard to precedence, which 
might have arisen between himself and the 
Dukes and Peers of France, assumed for the 
time the Title and Name of the Comte de 
Ville-franche. 

In the year 1779, the young Comte de 
Ville-franche married in the Town of St. 
Malo a Demoiselle Magon, the daughter of a 
Merchant. The Bishop of St. Malo solem- 
nized the Ceremony by which they were 
united. 



40 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. 

As soon as the news of this marriage reached 
the Court of Sardinia, it formally claimed and 
obtained possession of the person of the young 
Prince Eugene — Comte de Ville-franche, and 
during fifteen months kept him a prisoner. 
At the end of that period, finding that the 
privation of liberty had no effect upon the 
NOBLE CONSTANCY of this Prince's cha- 
racter, he was set at liberty, but under the 
stipulation that his Son (for one already had 
been born) should only receive and adopt the 
Title and Name of the Chevalier de Savoie. 

About the year 1786, the death of the Prince 
Eugene — Comte de Ville-franche — took place. 
In the year 1800, his Son, the Chevalier de 
Savoie, brought an action against his Aunt, 
the Princess of Savoy — Carignan, to compel 
her to pay to him the Royal Portion, which 
was his right through his Father — u De lui 
payer la Legitime de son Pere." He gained 
'his Suit ; the Tribunals deciding that his claim 
was valid. 

Some time after, this young man, the Che- 
valier de Savoie, married a Demoiselle de 
Quelen, a young lady of good family. Louis 
XVIII. upon his restoration to the Throne, 
acknowledged the Chevalier de Savoie as a 
Prince of Savoy — Carignan, This Prince did 
not long survive his recognition, for in the 



HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. 4\ 

year 1829 he died, leaving behind him a Son 
by his marriage with the Demoiselle Quelen : 
and it is this Son, whom, by the Decree of 
April 28th, 1834, the King of Sardinia has 
recognized as a Prince of the Blood- 
Royal. 

The publication by himself of his Treatise 
and Opinions on my Claims, in Kliiber's 
widely circulated Legal Periodical, * had 
brought me already under the consideration 
of the legal profession in Germany, and the 
columns of the daily Press begun to be occu- 
pied by extracts from his Work : under such 
circumstances, it became an obvious mark of 
respect due by me to those Sovereigns who are 
Members of the Federal League of Germany 
— des Teutschen Bundes, (also, I felt I owed 
it to myself,) not to permit their knowledge of 
my Claims to be gleaned from Newspapers ; 
but that, immediately, by myself their Majes- 
ties should be put in possession of those legal 
opinions, which had freed my position from 
all doubt, and had widely promulgated the 
Legality and the Righteousness of my Claims. 



* Abhandlungen und Beobachtungen fur Geschicht-kunde, Staats 
und Rechts-wissenschaften. Von J. L. Kliiber. II Band. Frank- 
furt a.m. in der Andreuischcn, Buch-handlung. 1834. 



42 THIRD LETTER To 

Accordingly the printed volumes of Kliiber 
and of Zacharia, presented by written com- 
munications, were respectfully transmitted by 
me to the greater number of those Sovereigns, 
who, had not its dissolution been effected by 
Napoleon, would have constituted the Reign- 
ing Members of the German Empire. 

When I said that to the daily Press was 
greatly to be attributed the measure to which 
I had just resorted, it must not be inferred 
that every other motive was wanting : by the 
perusal of the following letter (Letter III.), 
which I found myself called upon to write, 
other and more cogent reasons will be found, 
which had their influence in its adoption. 

LETTER III. 

TO HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV. 

Pyrmont, 
September 7th, 1834. 
Sire, 

Your Majesty's condescension will 

pardon my venturing within so short a period 
of time to lay a third letter at your feet ; but 
trusting that no step of mine which Prudence 
or Respect may counsel, can in any possibility 
find an objection in your Majesty's Royal 
breast, I feel it only humbly following the 



WILLIAM IV. 43 

dictates of my Duty, to communicate what- 
ever new combinations or the fresh aspect of 
circumstances may have occasioned. 

Having been impressed with the conviction 
that my Claims were of a nature to create an 
interest in the different Sovereigns of the Ger- 
man Confederation, and certain (as has been 
the case) that the Public Press would not 
allow my Affairs to pass unnoticed, I felt that 
it would be any thing but decorous — that it 
would be disrespectful in me to allow such 
High Personages to gain their knowledge of 
the merits of my Case from the Newspapers. 

I have, therefore, transmitted to the most 
illustrious of those Royal Personages who send 
their Ministers to Frankfort, Copies of the 
Documents, and also the Volumes of Kliiber 
and of Zacharia. 

May I humbly hope that your Majesty will 
not only understand, but will sanction my wish 
that the Mighty Personages to whom I have 
alluded, should clearly see the following 
prominent features of my case : — - 

1st. That the marriage of my Parents was 
according to German views thrice reit- 
erated. 

2nd. That my revered Mother was one of a 
Family which until lately was Sovereign 
and Reigning. 



44 THIRD LETTER TO 

3rd. That my Father until the period of 

their unhappy separation addressed her 

by his own Titles, whilst to me he 

gave that of a Son not springing from a 

Misalliance. 

4th. That in two very solemn documents, 

my Father had besought the two of his 

Brothers who were nearest to the Throne, 

to maintain and to support my Rights 

as his lawful and legitimate Son. 

5th. That two legal Authorities, with whose 

fame they were so well acquainted, had 

demonstrated the Rights to which, by 

the will of Providence, I had been born. 

To understand the steps which have been 

taken, it seemed to me necessary that the 

Mighty Personages whom I have mentioned 

should clearly see the preceding points. 

Before I conclude, let me throw myself at 
your Majesty's feet, and implore your gracious 
consideration of the light in which my Father 
must appear to Hanover — to Germany — to the 
present Generation — and to Posterity, should 
the demonstrations of such Authorities as 
Kluber and Zacharia be lost upon him. 

Oh ! my Gracious Sovereign, if the absence 
of health, or too great delicacy in family rela- 
tions, should prevent his taking those steps 
which FAITH and duty to his children, 



WILLIAM IV. 45 

and FAITHFULNESS to HIS OWN ASSEVERATIONS, 

demand — accord, nevertheless, the Grace of 
Acknowledgment to his Children ; and with 
glorious magnanimity let it be thought that 
your Most Gracious Majesty has not been left 
without receiving his prayers in their behalf. 

In lively hopes that the bounty of your 
Royal heart will end the painful anxieties 
which for so many years I have experi- 
enced, with feelings of devotion towards your 
Royal Self, I have the honor to subscribe 
myself, 

Your Majesty's 

most humble Subject, 

(signed) Augustus d 'Este. 

After an attentive consideration (if such be 
granted) of the measures which have been 
detailed, — of the written communications by 
which they were accompanied, — and of my 
private and energetic appeals to that Illustri- 
ous Personage, upon whom, at that time, de- 
pended the success of my exertions, — I indulge 
in the hope that they will find approval in 
the judgment of every just and unprejudiced 
reader. 



46 NARRATIVE. 

Important Documents having come righte- 
ously into my possession by the decease of my 
honored Mother, and those Documents having 
an important influence upon her posthumous 
fame, as well as upon the claims to legitimacy 
of my Sister and of myself, surely it was no 
less a duty which I owed to the revered 
memory of my departed Parent, than it was 
due to my Sister and to myself, to submit 
them to be assayed by those, who, by every 
one, would be considered to be the most com- 
petent to decide upon their efficacy: this was 
done ; and the Opinions — given after great 
consideration — having been not only favoura- 
ble to the greatest extent, but free from all 
doubts, it would have been worse than igno- 
ble in me had I hesitated to pursue the 
straight-forward course of action, which, as 
their consequence, I became bound to adopt ; 
and I should have been as contemptible in my 
own eyes as in those of every other reflecting 
individual, had I vacillated in regard to imme- 
diately laying those Opinions at the feet of 
my Father's Brother, and to supplicating, as 
their consequence, his recognition of my 
Claims. I did both : and I grieve to say that 
I find deep traced in the records of my 
memory, that, to my letters — written, most 
assuredly, under the influence of all the loy- 



REPLY OF THE CABINET. 47 

alty which can be borne towards a monarch, 
and of all those dutiful sentiments which were 
due to His Majesty from one so nearly allied 
to him by blood — no answer was vouchsafed. 

If His Majesty vouchsafed no reply what- 
soever, to the three private letters which have 
been given., the Petition to the Viceroy and to 
the Cabinet Council of Hanover received its 
answer. Upon the 22nd of September, 1834, 
whilst I was sojourning in Brunswick, the fol- 
lowing Official Instrument came to hand. 



REPLY OF THE HANOVERIAN CABINET 

TO 

MY PETITION. 

Hanover, Sept 16th, 1834. 

The Memorial of Lieut.-Colonel d'Este, re- 
ceived by us on the 23rd of August of the 
present year, has been by us (as in duty bound) 
laid before His Majesty the King. 

His Majesty has been pleased to command 
us to communicate to Lieut.-Colonel d'Este, 
that His Majesty cannot recognize as well- 
founded the claims which have been raised by 
the Lieut.-Colonel ; and, therefore, that Lieut.- 
Colonel d'Este for the future SHALL RE- 
FRAIN from taking ANY STEPS with the 



48 REPLY OF THE CABINET. 

Authorities of this Kingdom, which steps have 
for their object the establishment of such pre- 
tensions. 

The Cabinet Ministerium of His Majesty 
the King of Great Britain and of 
Hanover. 

(signed) OMPTEDA. 

Imperfectly could I describe the astonish- 
ment occasioned to myself by the tenour of 
the foregoing instrument. — To the reader I 
will address the entreaty that upon the conclu- 
ding portion of its second paragraph may be 
bestowed undivided attention ; and then — for 
the epithets which it merits — I leave them to 
be affixed, without reserve, by the reader's 
judgment, and by the reader's sense of justice. 

The portion of the second paragraph to 
which I refer is— "and, therefore, that Augus- 
tus d'Este for the future shall refrain from 
taking ANY steps with the Authorities of 
this Kingdom, which steps have for their ob- 
ject the establishment of such pretensions." 

If, as the person cruelly aggrieved, I abstain 
myself from prefixing any epithets to an act, 
of which, it will appear to all, I have such 
reason to complain; still, surely, it will be well 



CONCLUSION. 49 

to direct the attention of those who may 
favour me by the perusal of these pages, to 
the character of the Instrument, and to some 
of the most obvious of its consequences. In 
the words which have been quoted the as- 
tounding Fiat had gone forth — and the sacred 
approaches towards Justice, which, surely, 
should be accessible to ALL, through the 
Hanoverian Ministerium had become for me 
prohibited paths — were made for me forbidden 
ground : however I might be indebted to legal 
research for additional demonstrations of the 
validity of my claims ; and however my Coun- 
sellors — men of the greatest legal knowledge — 
might impress upon me the necessity of continu- 
ing my Proceedings ; — nevertheless, from the 
Cabinet of Hanover the Interdict had gone 
forth, and I was forbidden to take one step 
more, which might have for its object the 
prospective recognition of my Claims:— Claims, 
be it remembered, which, already, had been 
proved both by Kluber and by Zacharia to 
be incontrovertible, and BASED UPON 
LAW. 

Under such prohibition from all future 
action, as regarded Hanover, during the life- 
time of the then reigning Sovereign, various 
were the measures which, during the long 

D 



50 CONCLUSION. 

and anxious hours of reflection, suggested 
themselves as most befitting for adoption. 

I will not affirm that it never crossed my 
mind to change my scene of action back to 
Britain ; and by published Narratives of the 
Past, to arouse the generous sympathies of this 
Land for one, who in vain had sought for 
Justice where the ties of blood gave him so 
strong a claim. — I will not deny that Petitions 
both to the Lords and Commons, offered them- 
selves to my consideration, as measures well- 
calculated to obtain my Rights, so unrighteously 
withheld. Such, under various modifications, 
and other Projects, during times of reflection, 
pressed themselves forward as not ill-suited 
means to obtain my lawful ends. 

At length, wearied with the consideration 
of to what measure I should next have re- 
course, my thoughts sought to find a tem- 
porary repose in the hope of a more auspicious 
Future. In a happy hour, the welcome ques- 
tion suggested itself — If, from The Duke 
of Kent, during early sorrow,* I have expe- 
rienced kindness and commiseration, now 
that my Father's Royal Brother is no more, 



* Upon one occasion in early youth, when all ingress under the 
Paternal roof, for a time, was denied to me, the Duke of Kent's doors 
continued ever ready for my admission, 






CONCLUSION. 51 

why may I not look to the Accession to 
the Throne of His Illustrious Daughter as 
to the Day-spring of Justice and of Grace ? — 
Suffice it to say, in such contemplation I found 
a solace; — those measures, the adoption of 
which was then under consideration, remained 
untried ; — and my hopes for eventual Justice 
and for Grace were fixed upon BRITAIN'S 
FUTURE QUEEN. 

London. September 26th, 184L 



*@4K-©*2* 



INDEX 



Page 
Case for Hanover . . . . .6 

Opinions on the foregoing Case by the Counsellor of 

State, J. L. Kliiber . . . .21 

Opinions upon the same Case by Dr. K. S. Zacharia, 

of Heidelberg . . . . .23 

Petition to the Viceroy and to the Cabinet Council of 

Hanover . . . . .29 

Letter to the First and to the Second Chamber of the 

States-General of Hanover . . .32 

Letter No. I. to His Majesty King William IV. . 33 
Letter No. II. to His Majesty King William IV. . 36 
The Recognition of the Son of the Chevalier de Savoie 

by the Demoiselle Quelen, as a Prince of the 

Blood . , . . . .39 

Letter No. III. to His Majesty King William IV. . 42 
Reply of the Cabinet of Hanover to my Petition to 

the Viceroy and to Itself . . .47 



